Over $20,000 in prizes and a professional recording session await today’s top young drummers.

To celebrate the current crop of talented, young, American drummers— and to create more of them— leading drum, accessory and media companies have joined together to announce the first annual Drumerica™ online video contest for teen drummers.

Drumerica is set to take place over the upcoming summer break (July and August, 2014) and is open to 13-18 year-old boys and girls who are current residents of the U.S.A. To enter, contestants simply choose one of six official play-along tracks provided by “Groove Essentials” and “Turn It Up & Lay It Down”, record a video, upload it to YouTube and sign-up for free on the Drumerica.us website.

The top “Drumericans” will be selected by judging panels made up of world-famous drummers, leading drum educators and top drum industry professionals, including Tommy Igoe (Groove Essentials), Arin Ilejay (Avenged Sevenfold), Kent Slucher (Luke Bryan), “Big” Mike Clemons (Israel Houghton) and others. Winners will be chosen based on drumming skill, showmanship and musicality.

In addition, random weekly drawings and simultaneous “fan” contests on Drumerica’s social media will occur throughout the contest for prizes such as hats, shirts, keys, sticks, heads and educational media.

The Drumerica national contest for young drummers officially opens for entries on July 1, 2014 and closes on August 1, 2014. All entries must include a video performance of an official track. A preliminary group of 25 finalists will be announced on August 9 and the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners will be announced on August 16.

Additional sponsors and judges will be announced as they are confirmed. For further information and a complete list of rules and prizes visit www.drumerica.us and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.